FAL

The Fine Arts Library is proud to exhibit the work of artist Robert Dale Anderson. Anderson was an esteemed art teacher here at the University of Texas for over twenty years.

The fourth floor of the FAL is the current home to Anderson's elaborate found-object construction "Red Dog" (1986-89). On the fifth floor, there are two more sculptural works by Anderson, "Almost" (1983-85) and "White Girl" (1995). Also on exhibit are four lithographs of intricate drawings by the artist. All of the work is on loan through Mona and Ken Hale.

In the catalog "Forty Years of California Assemblage", Marnie Weber described Anderson's "Almost" as:
"Carrying an awesome and silent presence, the sculpture has a very human quality, suggestive of an ancient Polynesian king on a throne...it rests with a quiet patience and a humble compassion, yet it seems to know its own absurdity..."Almost" wears a halo of a rusty fingerguard from an electric fan; dentures and a toothbrush suggest a mouth.This mixture of horror and humor reminds us that the sculpture was built above the animal hospital where Anderson assisted in animal emergencies for several years."

In a recent artist statement, Anderson wrote: “What is realized through silent contemplation is content that polite society does its best to hide - decay, disease, death, dementia, and chaos: the dark side. Siding within the traditions of the erotic, carnivalesque, fantastic, surrealistic, and psychedelic we find malignant growth and movement, a rotting world turned upside down in disorder, twisted grotesque bodies, beautiful monsters and decaying ruins.”

Born in Glendale California in 1949, Anderson received his M.F.A. and B.F.A. at California State University at Long Beach. He moved to Austin in 1988 when he joined the faculty the University of Texas. Photos of Anderson's work and design by Mark Doroba.